I cut down a fairly large pine in my yard and have to more waiting to get the axe err saw I should say. My question is I am not on a 3 year plan yet but am working on it how long should I let pine season? I am worried about rot mostly hate to lose anything free. I have it bucked and stacked but not split. should I leave It in rounds or split asap. I don't plan on using it until thbis time next year at least is that long enough?
Pine seasons relatively fast. 1 year should be good, depending on conditions of course. If you get a chance, split and stack it off the ground. My pine likes to get a little funky with mold after absorbing ground moisture. I have a cord or two of white pine from a free score this summer and plan on burning it in September/October 2014. It makes great campfire wood but is also nice in your stove (not as many BTUs as some hardwoods, but lights easily).
Thanks that kind of what I was thinking. I have a couple of cedars that got beat up pretty bad during the ice/snow storm and not straight enough for post any advice on them also.
My experience with pine is split it stack it top cover it and it won't rot. It will rot for sure if left in rounds or log form! Pine is one of my favorites to burn honestly but the biggest disadvantage to pine is burning to hot if anything.
I use cedar for kindling. It can be a knotty mess to split. I like to give it a couple years before use if it is green. Burns hot and quick.
Yep, what they said.....with this addendum. Make sure that after you split it, it gets stacked on top of something to get it off the ground. The bugs will mostly leave it alone once it's split, and the ones that don't have no idea the fate that awaits them. Don't hesitate to get it split. Go on......we'll wait...... Done yet? Seriously, it won't start drying until you do, and once you do, Pine dries pretty fast. Might be ready to burn late this fall, depending on drying conditions.
All very good advice. The last pine we got was full of knots and green. If this is the case with yours, I would suggest standing your rounds on end for a few days, maybe a week, off the ground. On a pallet or something. Seems to make them a little easier to split. Anybody else try this technique before?
I'd be getting that stuff split and stacked ASAP. And with our wet climate here in PA during spring summer and fall, I highly recommend top covering it. I use reclaimed rubber roofing and man does that make a difference. You do these things, that pine should be MORE than ready by late fall. Just keep in mind pine burns fast and hot. So for best results, plan on using mixed loads when burning.....
Send it to ME! Not much pine around here except for the few older large ones planted for shading the yard & shelterbelts on rural farmsteads many decades ago.Natural range is close to 150 miles to my NE,up in corner of state near Wisconsin,Minnesota & the Upper Missisippi River Valley. Got a bunch from local tree service contact last February,hoping to get some more this year sometime.Ignorant people that don't know any better turn their noses up at it,same with the occasional Eastern Red Cedar/Juniper.That's good stuff too.
I split the rounds when the sap on the ends dries up enough to handle rounds with knots into chunk splits rounds with no knots into kindling
That was my plans just was not sure if it was better to s/s or leave in rounds for a bit. Plan on mixing the rounds with some other rounds and than splitting altogether and stack as it comes.
I like to try and split my firewood ASAP. Although that doesn't always happen (I have a heap of hickory out back to do as I type this), I try to split it right away. Pine included. Seems the longer you let pine sit in rounds, the messier it is in terms of sap. And as with all wood, it really doesn't begin seasoning until you get it split up.....
Cut & split as you go! So why do I still have a huge pile of logs waiting to be processed - from last summer??? Too many projects going on. As the days get longer, I will just have to designate one evening a week to working on it. This will not make my wife happy. She like the heat but wants her honey do list done first.
C/S/S and off the ground ASAP is , but I think there's something to setting your rounds on end if you're not splitting right away. If you're gonna split your new found pine by hand, instead of a heaping pile, set a few on end. When you're ready, see what splits easier. Anybody else have thoughts on this?
Pine is fine and will dry in nine. But not in rounds....unless it is white pine. White pine will dry fine in rounds and can dry in an amazingly short period of time. Most though wants to be split right away. Hard to beat hydraulics when it comes to that knotty crap.
Oboy, yeah I hear that. But I gots wood to cut. "But sweetie, that door needs to be fixed". "My brakes are squeeking". "That light flickers and goes out". OK honey, and then I go cut wood... "Sure" Maybe - we'll see.
